Yvonne van Zeeland graduated as a Doctor in Veterinary Medicine (DVM) with merit at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Utrecht University, the Netherlands in 2004. After working for a short period in a companion animal clinic in the Netherlands she completed an Internship in Companion Animal Medicine at Utrecht University, followed by a Residency in Avian Medicine at the Division of Zoological Medicine. She succesfully finished this residency and passed her board exam in April 2013 to become a Diplomate of the European College of Zoological Medicine (ECZM-Avian) and European recognized specialist in Avian Medicine. In 2014 she furthermore obtained a de facto recognition in the Small mammal Specialty of this same college (ECZM) for her efforts and accomplishments in the small mammal medicine field.
In her daily work, Yvonne deals primarily with exotic species such as birds, small mammals and reptiles. In addition to these clinic-related activites, she is also actively involved in teaching and various research projects. Throughout her carreer, Yvonne not only showed interest in the medical aspects of the profession, but also developed an interest in (parrot) behaviour. These interest led her to become a Tinley and IAABC certified parrot behaviour consultant (2012, 2015). As a member of the Veterinary Behaviour Clinic team in Utrecht she regularly sees and treats parrots with various behaviour problems. From 2009 onwards, she furthermore spent (and spends) a great deal of her time on research into feather damaging behaviour in grey parrots, a project that was part of a larger project concerning welfare in companion animals. After succesfully defending her thesis on June 21, 2013, she obtained a PhD for these graduate studies.
Yvonne furthermore actively contributes to the (inter)national development and advancement of avian and exotic animal medicine through lectures, publications and membership of various professional organizations and committees, including having served as President of the Association of Avian Veterinarians (AAV) for 2018-2019. Amongst others, she currently serves as Avian Scientific Chair for the European Association of Avian Veterinarians (EAAV) in relation to the ICARE conference, as Examination Committee Chair for the European College of Zoological Medicine (2019 onwards), and as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Avian Medicine and Surgery (2019 onwards). For her ongoing and outstanding contributions to the field, she received the Lafeber’s Avian Practitioner of the Year Award in 2021.